A total of 16 candidates — 11 from Davangere South and 5 from Bagalkot Assembly constituency — withdrew their nominations before the deadline on Thursday. This left 9 candidates in the fray in the Bagalkot Assembly constituency by-election and 25 candidates in the Davangere South constituency. This includes two rebel Congress candidates namely Sadiq Pahilwan and H. Subhan Sab.
A Congress delegation led by Salee Ahmed and Rizwan Ahmed, which arrived in Davangere a little late on Thursday, tried in vain to convince rebel candidate Sadiq Pahilwan to withdraw from the contest. In a related development, the KPCC has expelled another party rebel, H. Subhan Saba, district president of the Davangere Labor wing, from the party for six years, taking exception to his “derogatory” remarks against the party and senior party leaders.
The polls were necessitated after the resignation of former ministers HY Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
16 candidates filed nomination papers for the Bagalkot Assembly constituency by-elections and two candidates’ nominations were rejected on scrutiny. In Davangere South, 39 candidates filed nomination papers of which three were rejected.
In Bagalkot, the contenders include Congress’ Umesh Hullappa Meti and BJP’s Veeranna Charantimath along with Karnataka Rashtra Samiti candidate Nagaraj Kalakutagar, Uttam Prajakeeya’s Anthosh Savvase and four independents.
According to an official report, 11 independent candidates withdrew their nomination on Thursday.
Muslim candidates
A total of 22 Muslim candidates, the highest so far from the community, filed their nomination papers in Davangere South, one of which was rejected. Now, even though eight Muslim candidates have withdrawn from the contest, 13 are still in the fray along with 12 others.
Former minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson Samarth Mallikarjun is the Congress candidate here, while the BJP has fielded Srinivas T. Dasakariyappa.
The vote is scheduled for April 9.
Published – 26 March 2026 21:17 IST
